2011 Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses

Tasted blind in a line-up of 2011 Amoureuses in Holland, while Louis Jadot’s 2011 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Amoureuses is not as bright as Patrice Rion’s Amoureuses ‘11, it has a stylistically similar bouquet with high-toned red berry fruit, but the oak is a little cumbersome here and there are some charred/charcoal scents marring its purity. There is possibly a little reduction here. The palate is sweet and chewy on the entry. There is good fruit concentration here with spice-tinged blackberry and wild raspberry fruit, sea salt, white pepper and plenty of sous-bois notes toward the finish. Not the finest Amoureuses since it is missing substance toward the finish, but at least it captures the spirit of the vineyard. Tasted June 2014.

(finished its malo late): Bright full red. Multidimensional nose offers strawberry, raspberry, flowers, minerals, crushed stone and wild herbs. Compellingly sweet and silky, with pungent peppery, spicy lift to the red berry, blood orange and mineral flavors. A wine of great aromatic precision and persistence. Saturates the entire palate on the very long, building back end, where fine-grained tannins melt into the fruit.

A spicy and notably floral nose of attractively layered aromas features notes of cassis, black cherry and plum aromas. There is a lovely mineral streak that runs the length of the refined medium-bodied flavors that possess excellent complexity, all wrapped in a balanced, lingering and lilting finish. I very much like the finesse and brilliant mouth feel as it's pure silk. Tasted: Apr 15, 2013. Drink: 2023+